National Economic Association


The National Economic Association is a learned society in the field of economics. The NEA was established in 1969 in New York City, New York at the annual economists' convention that year as the "Caucus of Black Economists." Its founders, Charles Wilson and Marcus Alexis, began "an organized effort to challenge the American Economic Association to engage in strategies to increase opportunities for black economists’ development." They were successful in persuading the AEA to establish a Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession and sponsor a summer program to help for undergraduates of color prepare for graduate school admission.
Founder Bernard Anderson of the Wharton School of Business said that when the group first met, the leaders of the American Economic Association called the police. "They thought we were a bunch of radicals who wanted to disrupt the convention,” Mr. Anderson said, “when all we wanted to be was economists.”
The group was reorganized as the "National Economic Association" in 1975, to focus on initiatives independent of the CSMGEP, particularly awarding recognition to Black economics for their accomplishments in the economics profession.
The purposes of the Association are "to promote the professional lives of minorities within the profession. In addition to continuing its founding mission, the organization is particularly interested in producing and distributing knowledge of economic issues that are of exceptional interest to promoting economic growth among native and immigrant African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color."
Membership in the Association is available to professionals and graduate students in Economics and related disciplines.

Activities

The annual meetings of the NEA are held in conjunction with the annual Allied Social Science Association meetings each January, and include multiple panels of research presentations. In addition, the NEA collaborates with the American Society of Hispanic Economics to host a summer conference on the subject of economic problems for Black and Hispanic communities and potential solutions, as well as racial and ethnic economic disparities and policies designed to counter these disparities.
Since 1977, the NEA has published the Review of Black Political Economy, a journal focusing on "research that examines issues related to the economic status of African-Americans, the African diaspora, and marginalized populations throughout the world."
The Association awards the Westerfield Award periodically in acknowledgement of outstanding scholarly achievements and public service by an African-American economist. This award, established in 1973, was named for economist and ambassador Samuel Z. Westerfield Jr. The association also awards the Rhonda Williams Dissertation Award to junior scholars, named for multidisciplinary scholar Rhonda M. Williams.
Since 2008, the NEA has collaborated with the American Economic Association's Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession and the American Society of Hispanic Economists to publish an annual newsletter, "Minority Report," which "showcases the people, programs, research, and activities of the three groups, which together help to increase the representation of minorities in the economics profession." There is a great deal of overlap in the leadership of the NEA and the AEA-CSMGEP, but they are separate organisations.

Association presidents

Presidents of the association include:
Recipients of the Samuel Z. Westerfield Jr. Award include: